84 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



hence give us, as far as you know, some reliable 

 advice. J. H. Parker. 



Magnetic Springs, O., Nov. 16. 



Is there a demand for crate-fed poultry in Flori- 

 da? 



There is usually a very good demand, 

 especially during Thanksgiving time and 

 the holidays. My neighbor, Mr. Abbott, 

 told me of selling fat old hens for over a 

 dollar each, and they were not " crate-fat- 

 tened " either. I think he delivered them 

 at the large hotels. 



What variety of poultry seems best adapted to 

 Florida? Our idea is more particularly for egg 

 production. 



As you know, all the great egg-farms use 

 Leghorns, both north and south; but I 

 think a change is coming. Some time ago 

 I got a few Rhode Island Reds so as to 

 have some hens that would sit. Well, when 

 the Leghorns did not lay at all, say in 

 November and December, I had one blind 

 " red hen " that laid, without wanting to 

 sit, all through November, December, and 

 January. I have now quite a few of her 

 chicks, and they are giving me fifty-cent 

 eggs, just like the mother. 



Take a laying hen, put her in Florida, then take 

 her to Medina, O., at vrhich place will it cost more 

 to keep her ? 



If you shut her up in both places it will 

 cost more in Florida on account of the 

 higher price of grain. If, however, j^ou 

 give her the run of the woods, as I do, it 

 would take less grain here in Florida, for 

 in Ohio she could not find feed in the woods 

 in winter as she does here. 



What do you think of a White Indian Runner 

 duck-farm for Florida? 



T am sorry to tell you that Florida peo- 

 ple care little for ducks or duck eggs. 

 When hens' eggs are forty or fifty cents, 

 duck eggs sell very well at a little less; but 

 in the spring no one SGems to Avant them. 

 Duck egg's are larger, and ducks lay right 

 through moulting time, and I like them just 

 as well as hens' eggs, especially when the 

 ducks are grain fed. But people will have 

 their notions. 



Is there any good reliable poultry concern on the 

 west coast of Forida from which one could liuy 

 reliable stock? 



The best I can do is to submit the two 

 advertisements below, which I clip from the 

 Florida Grower, j^ublished at Tampa: 



Single-comb White Leghorn and Rhode Island Red 

 yearling hens, pullets, and cockerels, at $1 each. 

 Jersey Stock Farm, Trilby, Pla. 



Single-comb Wbite Leghorns. Pure bred, and 

 mated for highest egg production. A year's test ; 

 the trap-nest the judge; then the best, then matings. 

 Matings with records up to 245. Day-old chicks and 

 eggs for hatching. None better. Wm. B. Moore & 

 Son, Olga, Fla. 



I know nothing of the parties above. 

 You might also write Crenshaw brothers, at 



Tampa, who deal in poultry -supplies con- 

 siderably. 



Do you consider Florida a good place to start a 

 poultry-farm? and would you advise around and 

 about BradentOMTi for the same ? 



Around Bradentown is a very good place 

 while eggs are worth 50 cts. a dozen, as 

 they are now, December; but last April 

 they were down to 15 cts. for a short time, 

 and not wanted at even that price. As yet, 

 there is little or no " cold storage " for egg's 

 (if I am correct) in any part of Florida. 



What are the best things to grow for feed stuff 

 for one's poultry in Florida, assuming that one has 

 six or seven acres? 



Dasheen, cassava, turnips, radishes, cab- 

 bage, lettuce, oats, and rye, to be fed green, 

 and no end of other things. See back num- 

 bers of our journal. 



What is a good thing to go with poultry in Flori- 

 da? 



I would grow potatoes, at least so long 

 as you can swap a bushel of potatoes for 

 a 100-lb. sack of corn. Raising green stuff 

 for the fowls saves grain, and helps the 

 egg yield. 



Do you think that there is more profit in the 

 raising of poultry in Florida than in Ohio ? 



That is hard to answer. If you feed 

 gTain, it always costs more in Florida than 

 in Ohio; but a great part of the year eggs 

 bring more here than in Ohio. Again, as 

 I have already said, there is a big saving- 

 down here in the way of buildings, brood- 

 ers, etc. Altho others down here may dif- 

 fer, I would and do raise chickens without 

 any lamp-lieated brooders. 



In starting an egg-farm would you buy in Florida 

 or in the North ? By this we mean the stock to 

 start with. 



I would buy here to save expensive trans- 

 portation unless it would be a few choice 

 fowls and eggs so as to work into a good 

 strain. 



Is it possible to keep down the lice, insects, etc., 

 in Florida? 



This is easily done. If the roosts, nests, 

 etc., are sprayed a few times a year, and 

 the droppings are swept up daily, and car- 

 ried away, we rarely find a trace of poultry 

 insects, or parasites of any kind. 



Is there any particular kind of house that you 

 advise for poultry in Florida ? We allude more par- 

 ticularly to a laying-house — an expensive house to 

 start with. We aim to keep 500 laying hens later 

 on, or part ducks — that is, Indian Runners and 

 part hens, such as may seem best. 



In southern Florida I would almost say, 

 " The less house, the better;" in fact, I was 

 at first quite successful with all of my poul- 

 try roosting in trees. There were some 

 objections, however. Big owls sometimes 

 take grown fowls out of the trees; and 

 when you want them it may take a very 



